Facebook will ban all QAnon accounts in its biggest content moderation step ever


Facebook is cracking down on dangerous disinformation spreading across its site.
The company will ban all QAnon groups, accounts, and pages and from Facebook and Instagram, the company announced Tuesday. While it won't go after individual QAnon posts, NBC News' Ben Collins, who has covered QAnon's rise from obscure to mainstream social media, tweeted that the ban was "the most sweeping content moderation step I've seen from any social media company so far."
The QAnon conspiracy theory falsely purports President Trump is leading a fight against a pedophilic ring of elites and Democrats, and often wishes violence upon those targets. Someone — or multiple people — posing as an alleged high-ranking government official known as Q has been spreading this disinformation for the past three years, and it has since spread onto mainstream social media and even into Trump rallies.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Facebook started banning QAnon accounts that advocated violence over the summer. But now, Facebook is considering QAnon to be among "militarized social movements" such as militia and terrorist groups. So "starting today," it will take down "Facebook Pages, Groups and Instagram accounts for representing QAnon," Facebook said in a press release. Work to remove these accounts will "continue in the coming days and weeks," with content moderation led by Facebook's Dangerous Organizations Operations team. Moderators will likely face a challenge in identifying QAnon-related posts, as its followers have recently moved to camouflage the movement under the guise of protecting children, NBC News notes.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
'We already have the tools to do better'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Kurdish PKK militia to disband for Turkey talks
speed read The Kurdistan Workers' Party will disarm after four decades of armed conflict with Turkey, putting an end to 'one of the longest insurgencies in the Middle East'
-
US, China agree to lower tariffs for 90 days
speed read US tariffs will fall to 30% from 145%, while China will cut its tax on US imports to 10% from 125%
-
Warren Buffet announces surprise retirement
speed read At the annual meeting of Berkshire Hathaway, the billionaire investor named Vice Chairman Greg Abel his replacement
-
Trump calls Amazon's Bezos over tariff display
Speed Read The president was not happy with reports that Amazon would list the added cost from tariffs alongside product prices
-
Markets notch worst quarter in years as new tariffs loom
Speed Read The S&P 500 is on track for its worst month since 2022 as investors brace for Trump's tariffs
-
Tesla Cybertrucks recalled over dislodging panels
Speed Read Almost every Cybertruck in the US has been recalled over a stainless steel panel that could fall off
-
Crafting emporium Joann is going out of business
Speed Read The 82-year-old fabric and crafts store will be closing all 800 of its stores
-
Trump's China tariffs start after Canada, Mexico pauses
Speed Read The president paused his tariffs on America's closest neighbors after speaking to their leaders, but his import tax on Chinese goods has taken effect
-
Chinese AI chatbot's rise slams US tech stocks
Speed Read The sudden popularity of a new AI chatbot from Chinese startup DeepSeek has sent U.S. tech stocks tumbling
-
US port strike averted with tentative labor deal
Speed Read The strike could have shut down major ports from Texas to Maine